Are you ever alone?

With work, friends, family, partner and kids, are you ever alone?

I need time alone. I need it to recharge. I don't care what I'm doing - I like cleaning the entire house when I'm alone, or doing absolutely nothing except sitting on my butt looking up useless stuff on the net. Or reading a book, or watching a movie. Anything. As much as I love people and will happily be the centre of attention, I crave time on my own without a single other person.

And lately that is seriously hard to come by. Monday and Tuesday DD goes to daycare and if DS will dare to sleep somewhere other than on my lap I can get some of that time and I'm ok, I'm happy. But that's all I get and I don't always get it. With two kids and DH there's always *someone*.

Today I took both kids next door toa birthday party while DH stayed home to do whatever, then he had them both while I went out to return a DVD and just tale my time on my own. But what do you do to get that time?

The groceries. Seriously, that's my alone time. I wear earphones. I currently work full-time and can't wait to be back to part-time so I have time alone again. Then I bet DH will take some time off on those days just to annoy me.

We also have two sofas, so I can sit and read on one and not be disturbed (works pretty well - but the boys are older now!). I've just bought a new sofa for Stormy's room, and that will be my hide-out. Am not telling DH where my hide-out is.

I am sending DH off to the race cars in a couple of months for the weekend and celebrating that I can have some alone time... then my mother says she'll visit that weekend. NOOOOOO! Liebs will have early nights and I'll have hours of glorious alone-ness. Don't take that away from me.

I have joined a gym with a creche. I drop Moo at kinder and then take Buster straight there so I can have a workout. Or I go when DH is home. I love it, it's definitely a favourite way to recharge for me.

Otherwise I get alone time when DH is on night shift. I find just those couple of nights with the tv to myself, or a book in bed without having to consider what DH is doing really refreshing.

Funnily enough, DH has been on annual leave for over 5 weeks and I have had barely any time to myself!

When I am working, the mostly what I get is when DH goes out of an evening and the kids are in bed (he is an avid sports fan - so is at least about once a week I reckon) - I like having that time - although we tend to do our own thing in the evenings while watching TV - it is still nice to be totally alone sometimes. We were talking about it the other day because lots of DH friends other halves have rules about how often they are allowed out (or that could be just an excuse they tell him) - and I was saying that really I often look forward to that time - while it is nice to be together, I also quite like having the house to myself - so if he wants to go out he should go for it. On the weekends he often offers to take the kids out for a bit, and I sometimes take him up on it, but more often than not during the day I would rather just go and do whatever interesting thing they are doing (part of this is cleaning avoidance on my part I reckon)

Between contracts I get some alone time when they are in daycare - and I do enjoy that.

Probably the wrong person to comment, but I am alone all the freaking time other than at work and I am so over it, never having someone to have a conversation with, do anything with, laugh with, it sucks.

I get up early. On days when kids get up before or with me, i struggle bc i miss out on the me time.

DH is a shift worker, and i also enjoy the night shifts bc (if i can get kids to bed) i get some time just for me.

Yes, I do thankfully. In the early days of the children, I did not get much at all.
At least now with the start of term 2 I will get back my one day off a week. I have really noticed the lack of that day on my overall level of happiness. (school days and a heavy work load last year meant I lost my day)
I do sometimes get to do the supermarket shopping by myself. I also get time in the car. Might not be much between school drop off and work, but it is so nice to have the quiet, no questions, no "I need a tissue, drink bottle etc"

Not much but I do enjoy it when I do, Sometimes I'll stay up an hour or two after DH has gone to bed to do whatever. He used to go to Band practise every Wednesday night and I'd enjoy that time (kids in bed). He tends to go to the Footy or have poker night with his mates a couple times a month, I usually grab a packet of mint slices or some other goodies and curl up to watch a chick flick..... bliss!

I never got time alone until Ashton was in kindergarten. Even then I immersed myself in school committees etc to keep busy. During his kindergarten year I was studying Business Administration. I love alone time, but always seem to find myself doing something somewhere. Andrew may take the boys out (rarely) and leave me home but I am usually stuck with at least one of them which is okay as they just go on the computer or play lego, and in the last year he has done it, it is so I can study.

I will now have Wednesday afternoons to myself as I finish work at 11am and I don't have to go home to study. I can't wait to cherish them.

My alone time is the 30 min I have between my alarm going off at 0500 and me making breakfast at 0530. That time is spent having a shower and getting ready for work. Then DH is up and soon after DD2 wakes.

Does the hour to and from work count? I usually have phone calls from dh, dd1, or work during those times.

I get no alone time at all :(

I'm worried that it will actually get worse when I go back to work. I'm never alone there, and even if I do get the office to myself I'm always on the phone. It's a mentally draining job and leaves me wanting alone time just as much as anything else but I won't be able to get it because I need to spend what time I can get out of work worth my family.

Losing sleep for alone time isn't an option right now. I'm already not getting enough, I can't stay up late when I'm exhausted just to be by myself when I know the baby will wake any minute. Same for getting up early. As for naps, while DH is home I've been sleeping every time DS does.

I think if DS starts sleeping a bit better even in the early part of the night I'll be right, I can do my own thing for an hour or so and then spend time with DH.

No. Actually, maybe an hour 3-5 times a week to exercise, but I exercise at a park with like a million children playing on the outdoor exercise gear, and my own kids are playing nearby (with DH). I cosleep with DD2, and she feeds on and off throughout the night. So not really. Every now and then DH takes the kids out and it. Is. Bliss.

I am always alone. I work alone for most of the day and apart from before and after school, I am by myself. It's lonely lol

I get two days a week all to myself, and one day with just DS2. Before I had kids I hated being alone for long periods of time. Now I love it. I need it.

I'm another that really needs alone time.
My DH works away, permanently. I haven't seen him for weeks. So I am really really vigilant with bed times so that I do get to do absolutely nothing and be by myself. Other than that. No. The baby still sleeps with me. She's older and more independent than your bub though.
I try to get away by myself once a year for a couple of days. My girlfriends all offer to make it a girls weekend away, but in truth I don't want that.
I do have great mates though. Ones who just know when you aren't doing so well and offer to take a kid (or 3) so I can do the groceries.
There are weeks though when i feel exactly like you. The baby is up half the night so does have a day sleep, but I'm wrecked so i can't physically do anything, then she won't go to bed at night. That usually forms a pattern for a few days and I feel like there's no end in sight.

Every second weekend and half school holidays. I hate it.

I have to have alone time, or I lose it. These school holidays are testing my limits. I haven't had any time alone because my bigger kids are home, and DH is working like a man possessed. I can't wait for school to go back next week to have my day alone (though DH might be home, but I can tell him to leave me alone without making him cry or tantrum!).

DS2 goes to day care one day and the bigger kids are at school and that is the day I look forward to every week! Those 6 hours kid free fly so fast! I do also get time alone at night when DH is on night shifts. Kids are usually in bed by 8pm, and I am trying to get into bed by 10 (though I have gotten myself into going to bed at 11.30/12 when the kids were tiny to get time alone and it's proving to be a hard habit to break!) so i get a few hours there too.

I have always loved my own company. I can spend days alone without getting lonely or bored. When the kids were smaller and BF'ing, it was really hard on me because I would feel touched out, and their noise and talking would grate on my nerves so badly, I would have meltdowns.

Not often, but now DD3 goes to bed around 7pm if I want to I can go out alone. Usually I spend alone time catching up with friends though. If I duck out for a massage that's me time, but obviously not alone! Sometimes DP goes out and I am alone in the evenings with all the girls asleep.

I think the day will come when I have alone time again, like I used to. For now, I'll enjoy the companionship of my babies because they won't be little and needing me for very long. It's not the season of my life when I get much time to myself. I've had it plenty before and I will again. I'm content with that.

Mine are all teenagers and I'm my partners full time carer. The only time I get to myself is 2 x 20 mins during term time, when I come back from taking DD1 to a before school lesson. It's my time to crank up the car stereo and sing badly to music I like. (DP has noise reactive epilepsy so I can't have my music loud when we're together).

When it's been a really bad week I have been known to take the long way home to get an extra few mins to myself.

Not much, and nothing regular. But I'm ok with it. I don't think I'm a person who needs a lot of alone time, but I do enjoy it sometimes. If it's been a hard day I might get a bath to myself when DH gets home or on the weekend. On the weekend I might duck out and do the groceries on my own and take my time a bit but not much because I have to get back for DD3's next feed.

I work 1 1/2hrs away. Everyone give me sypathy for the drive and triea to offer me alternatives eg why dont i work closer. But its my choice and i actually enjoy the drive because. It is my alone time. Its the time i use to process stuff. Its the time i can have pure silence, or i can crank the hard metal.
Ideally id love alone time at home where i can sleep or have a bath by myself etc.. but i understand with a nearly 2yo and another on the way it isnt going to happen soon.

Before DD and DS I used to work horses at home about 3 days a week and teach school 2 days a week. Week-ends were full of me teaching riding and competitions. I loved the riding horses days.
Between kids I was alone a lot!! My daughter was born an angel so I did not go back to teaching but hung out on the farm with the dogs and horses. It was bliss. I would go days without getting in the car. I occasionally invited people over or met friends in town but mostly I was alone.
Now I am finally getting some time alone again. It has taken some work but DH has arranged his life so I have time to ride again most days and he looks after DS. I also love DS's sleep time in the day.
I miss DS when I'm not with him but enjoy him so much more when I have had some time to myself.

I am sometimes alone on the train, but I'm often reading or working so it doesn't really count ...

Showers are part with the DSs, and then alone ...

That's about it!

I have regular scheduled alone time each week. DD goes to FDC on Fridays (originally so I could do some casual teaching shifts) but I've been quite unwell so Fridays are mine and so are Saturday nights and I can have more time when I ask for it. DP has Wednesday nights to himself to go to his dance class and for dinner.
If I don't get this time I become narky and critical and not very nice to be around.

Hahahha um NO

I'm an only child so I think I do need some alone time to just be with me. This is part of the reason I ride to work, it means I can switch off from home to work and work to home again.

Im a right PITA. If I get alone time I love it. Too much I sulk. I love time with family/friends. Too much and I get overwhelmed. I'm yet to find the perfect balance lol. I might be slightly high maintenance. My husband is amazing he never complains. And sees his travel time as he time. The only thing he complains about is me needing me time lol. As he would spend every second with me if he could. ;)

But let me tell you when I had small kids and worked I craved me time desperately. And now both kids are at school I crave company lol. Can't win.

Thats it...ive had a couple of days where Spock is at care and i have the day off or dont start work for a few more hours i get lonley... the world is boring without her around

Alone time at home is when im on the toilet. Even then velcro baby will find me and start banging on the door.

Since starting work in jan my alone time is on the train (1hr each way)

This is when i enjoy having an uninterrupted nap (still cosleeping bfing through the night) croceting or watching movies!

Does sitting in the dark under a sleeping toddler count? No one is asking me to do anything and I don't have to talk to anyone. It's all I'm getting at the moment so I'll take it

Lol emmjayt, I definitely get that kind of alone time! But I still crave time where I'm not being touched by anyone, I want to put him down when he's asleep and be able to do whatever needs to be done, on my own, with no one on me or needing me.

Rouge I'm very similar. Not enough time alone and u get cranky at everyone around me and start to hate the slightest touch. Too much and I'm lonely and just need company.

My weeks are usually pretty perfect. DD goes to daycare two days a week and it's enough for me to clean the house and do things for me, it's enough to recharge and because she's only there til 3 it's not long enough to miss her too much. If she was there longer or for more days I'd miss her and start to hate the time apart.

This week though DH has had time off work and DD not at daycare. So I've been surrounded, closely, for 10 days and our normal routine is out the window. Put that together with a baby who's started waking all throughout the evening and I don't even get the time between kids bedtime and mine.

Having a school run to do has helped because I can leave my DD2 with my mum for a while.

The 15 minute drives involves me turning up the radio so loud that my mirrors shake and just tuning out. It's so so good.